CVE-2024-50200

CVE-2024-50200 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Linux Kernel with a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.5. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low.

Key facts

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: maple_tree: correct tree corruption on spanning store Patch series "maple_tree: correct tree corruption on spanning store", v3. There has been a nasty yet subtle maple tree corruption bug that appears to have been in existence since the inception of the algorithm. This bug seems far more likely to happen since commit f8d112a4e657 ("mm/mmap: avoid zeroing vma tree in mmap_region()"), which is the point at which reports started to be submitted concerning this bug. We were made definitely aware of the bug thanks to the kind efforts of Bert Karwatzki who helped enormously in my being able to track this down and identify the cause of it. The bug arises when an attempt is made to perform a spanning store across two leaf nodes, where the right leaf node is the rightmost child of the shared parent, AND the store completely consumes the right-mode node. This results in mas_wr_spanning_store() mitakenly duplicating the new and existing entries at the maximum pivot within the range, and thus maple tree corruption. The fix patch corrects this by detecting this scenario and disallowing the mistaken duplicate copy. The fix patch commit message goes into great detail as to how this occurs. This series also includes a test which reliably reproduces the issue, and asserts that the fix works correctly. Bert has kindly tested the fix and confirmed it resolved his issues. Also Mikhail Gavrilov kindly reported what appears to be precisely the same bug, which this fix should also resolve. This patch (of 2): There has been a subtle bug present in the maple tree implementation from its inception. This arises from how stores are performed - when a store occurs, it will overwrite overlapping ranges and adjust the tree as necessary to accommodate this. A range may always ultimately span two leaf nodes. In this instance we walk the two leaf nodes, determine which elements are not overwritten to the left and to the right of the start and end of the ranges respectively and then rebalance the tree to contain these entries and the newly inserted one. This kind of store is dubbed a 'spanning store' and is implemented by mas_wr_spanning_store(). In order to reach this stage, mas_store_gfp() invokes mas_wr_preallocate(), mas_wr_store_type() and mas_wr_walk() in turn to walk the tree and update the object (mas) to traverse to the location where the write should be performed, determining its store type. When a spanning store is required, this function returns false stopping at the parent node which contains the target range, and mas_wr_store_type() marks the mas->store_type as wr_spanning_store to denote this fact. When we go to perform the store in mas_wr_spanning_store(), we first determine the elements AFTER the END of the range we wish to store (that is, to the right of the entry to be inserted) - we do this by walking to the NEXT pivot in the tree (i.e. r_mas.last + 1), starting at the node we have just determined contains the range over which we intend to write. We then turn our attention to the entries to the left of the entry we are inserting, whose state is represented by l_mas, and copy these into a 'big node', which is a special node which contains enough slots to contain two leaf node's worth of data. We then copy the entry we wish to store immediately after this - the copy and the insertion of the new entry is performed by mas_store_b_node(). After this we copy the elements to the right of the end of the range which we are inserting, if we have not exceeded the length of the node (i.e. r_mas.offset <= r_mas.end). Herein lies the bug - under very specific circumstances, this logic can break and corrupt the maple tree. Consider the following tree: Height 0 Root Node / \ pivot = 0xffff / \ pivot = ULONG_MAX / ---truncated---

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2024-50200?
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: maple_tree: correct tree corruption on spanning store Patch series "maple_tree: correct tree corruption on spanning store", v3. There has been a nasty yet subtle maple tree corruption bug that appears to have been in existence since the inception of the algorithm. This bug seems far more likely to happen since commit f8d112a4e657 ("mm/mmap: avoid zeroing vma tree in mmap_region()"), which is the point at which reports started to be submitted concerning this bug. We were made definitely aware of the bug thanks to the kind efforts of Bert Karwatzki who helped enormously in my being able to track this down and identify the cause of it. The bug arises when an attempt is made to perform a spanning store across two leaf nodes, where the right leaf node is the rightmost child of the shared parent, AND the store completely consumes the right-mode node. This results in mas_wr_spanning_store() mitakenly duplicating the new and existing entries at the maximum pivot within the range, and thus maple tree corruption. The fix patch corrects this by detecting this scenario and disallowing the mistaken duplicate copy. The fix patch commit message goes into great detail as to how this occurs. This series also includes a test which reliably reproduces the issue, and asserts that the fix works correctly. Bert has kindly tested the fix and confirmed it resolved his issues. Also Mikhail Gavrilov kindly reported what appears to be precisely the same bug, which this fix should also resolve. This patch (of 2): There has been a subtle bug present in the maple tree implementation from its inception. This arises from how stores are performed - when a store occurs, it will overwrite overlapping ranges and adjust the tree as necessary to accommodate this. A range may always ultimately span two leaf nodes. In this instance we walk the two leaf nodes, determine which elements are not overwritten to the left and to the right of the start and end of the ranges respectively and then rebalance the tree to contain these entries and the newly inserted one. This kind of store is dubbed a 'spanning store' and is implemented by mas_wr_spanning_store(). In order to reach this stage, mas_store_gfp() invokes mas_wr_preallocate(), mas_wr_store_type() and mas_wr_walk() in turn to walk the tree and update the object (mas) to traverse to the location where the write should be performed, determining its store type. When a spanning store is required, this function returns false stopping at the parent node which contains the target range, and mas_wr_store_type() marks the mas->store_type as wr_spanning_store to denote this fact. When we go to perform the store in mas_wr_spanning_store(), we first determine the elements AFTER the END of the range we wish to store (that is, to the right of the entry to be inserted) - we do this by walking to the NEXT pivot in the tree (i.e. r_mas.last + 1), starting at the node we have just determined contains the range over which we intend to write. We then turn our attention to the entries to the left of the entry we are inserting, whose state is represented by l_mas, and copy these into a 'big node', which is a special node which contains enough slots to contain two leaf node's worth of data. We then copy the entry we wish to store immediately after this - the copy and the insertion of the new entry is performed by mas_store_b_node(). After this we copy the elements to the right of the end of the range which we are inserting, if we have not exceeded the length of the node (i.e. r_mas.offset <= r_mas.end). Herein lies the bug - under very specific circumstances, this logic can break and corrupt the maple tree. Consider the following tree: Height 0 Root Node / \ pivot = 0xffff / \ pivot = ULONG_MAX / ---truncated---
How severe is CVE-2024-50200?
CVE-2024-50200 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.5, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires low privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.
Is CVE-2024-50200 being actively exploited?
It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (10th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2024-50200?
CVE-2024-50200 primarily affects Linux Linux Kernel. In total, 4 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.
How do I fix CVE-2024-50200?
Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.
Does CVE-2024-50200 have an EU (EUVD) identifier?
Yes. CVE-2024-50200 is tracked in the ENISA EU Vulnerability Database (EUVD) as EUVD-2024-44702.
When was CVE-2024-50200 published?
CVE-2024-50200 was published on 2024-11-08 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (4)

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